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Show THE SEARCHLIGHT Wages and Freight Rates those facts with the low-wage fetish of Clarkism to which he is so devoted? If Mr. Hampton had been a little more accurate—not to say forthright—in his diagnosis of the sugar situation, he would have pointed out that intolerant, monopolistic greed, and the savage brutality of ruthless sugar men in this region, coupled with tremendous over-expansion, brought on the adverse condition that all but wrecked the A few weeks ago L. B. Hampton, spokesman for the dubious “Industrial Relations Council” (ZCMI— Utah Copper — Deseret News — Lou Callister—Adrian Pembroke—Western Newspaper Union—et al.) protested before a panel of the Regional War Labor Board against wage rates proposed by the Geneva Steel Company as being in line with rates prevailing throughout the steel industry. The rates were subsequently approved. industry in Utah and Idaho—forced the industry The ridiculous plea of Hampton and his associates before the Board that unfavorable freight rates, and an inland to whine for Federal subsidies in the guise of high tariffs, special quotas, and farmer benefits. With perfect truth, Mr. Hampton could also geographical position, com- pels Utah to function on a low-wage basis, is farfetched hypocrisy. It was advanced by have pointed out that the Federal tariff subsidies, Mr. etc., have permitted dividends on stock of Utah Idaho Sugar Company—stock that portedly is highly inflated—in the face of conscionably low wage rates, and equivalent Hampton only to try to perpetuate the low-wage, high-profits policies of Clarkism. If there were any substance to the Hampton claim, the “Industrial Relations Council’” should prices paid to beet growers. strive for more favorable freight rates to relieve the situation—that is if Council members do not actually prefer low wages because they are low. Had they been making a fight to reduce freight rates, their argument might carry a little weight. But evidently they prefer to force low standards of living on Utah workers. We are sick and tired of the everlasting coddling of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, a con cern that wants—and gets—the best of the bargain all the time in its dealings with wage earners, farmers, and the public. And we are even more exasperated at the threatening editorials in the | Deseret Mr. Hampton cited the sugar industry as one that could not survive on a wage basis compar- of unfavorable freight rates. The Hampton claims | Utah does not ship sugar to California. Utah refineries ship principally to mid-west marketing areas. So freight rates to California would not affect the sugar industry at all. On the other hand, if California refineries dispose-of a part of their product in the same competitive mid-west area—and we understand they do—then Califor- nia refineries would be the ones to be faced with unfavorable freight rates. They would have to pay equal or greater freight rates because they are 800 miles farther from the mid-west market. Yet, in spite of that unfavorable situation in mid-west competition with Utah plants, the Crockett, California, refinery pays its workers News about four times a year that at- tempt to coerce farmers into growing beets. The people of the Rocky Mountain region should not have to endure forever the awful handicap of an “old man of the sea” that appar- able to other areas, including California, because are mere eye-wash. the purun low a base rate that is $2.20 a day above the base rate paid by the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company to its workers. How does Mr. Hampton reconcile ently cannot survive unless other industries and more enlightened concerns throughout the community are dragged down to similar debasing economic levels. Wallace Arraigns Fascists In a New York address on January 15th, Vice President Wallace emphatically condemned fascists and big business isolationists who hoped to resume connections with German cartels after the war. He accused them of promoting subversive movements and propaganda. The Vice President failed to name the parties he referred to. We wonder if Bond and Share, Kennecott Copper, and certain Clark enterprises, including list? the Deseret News, should be on the |